the sail to Marina del Rey
Here's the outcome of the sail:
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Prepped "My Freedom," my ’72 Ericson 29, for the sail from current home port in Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard to her new home in Marina del Rey in Los Angeles, approximately 53 miles (61 nautical miles) away. Anticipated average speed of 5 knots (5.8 MPH) and 10 hours travel time.
She is a beautiful boat and receives many compliments. This was her maiden voyage under my ownership. She was in good condition and previous owners (retiring couple near 70) said they "only took her out to the islands occasionally." My prep chores included testing and pumping out the head, securing everything in the cabin, changing oil in the engine, filling water and fuel tanks, etc.
I have not sailed in over a decade, and at that, my sailing experience was minor.
Don Anderson, experienced sailor who once sailed his Ericson 27 single-handed to Hawaii (a 19 day trip across the Pacific!) is joining me for the sail, offering invaluable assistance and insight. His contributions to the adventure are the only reasons My Freedom is not shattered and at the bottom of the ocean today. We met via an Ericson forum on the Internet. Don is a great, fun guy who once played a couple years with the Colts as a cornerback. He has a beautiful Ericson 30.
As time drew near to depart, I failed to make everything in the cockpit storage locker "shipshape," just throwing canvas, companion way door slats, and lines into the stowage as we were ready to depart. I also had not inspected the anchors (bow and stern) as I had intended. Also, needed to tighten the standing rig but was unable to do so. These shortcomings came back to haunt me later in the trip.
Friday night's NOAA reports warned of severe Santa Ana winds, with several small-craft advisories and Red Flag Alerts with anticipated gusts to 25 kph. By very early Saturday, the NOAA diminished its warnings but kept a small-craft advisory in effect until noon.
We pulled out of Channel Islands Harbor at 9:15 a.m.
Once out of the harbor, we were hit with strong gusts, but managed to sail along quite well under full main sail plus jib. We steadily travelled at between 5.5 kph and 6.5 kph (her hull speed).
It was a clear day, but on the horizon near Point Dume, we saw what we thought was a fog bank. We later realized it was heavy smoke from the Malibu fire.
As we approached Point Dume, winds picked up (as opposed to the small-craft advisories that indicated winds would die down) and we dropped the jib.
Don was piloting, handling the tiller, while I was scrambling on deck to handle lines and sails while the boat was buffeted by the sea. I was amazed to see her handle the buffeting with grace and style. She heeled and tossed without any indication of being nervous. I did, however, discover some flaws in my packing strategy and lost a box of breakfast cereal, crashing and spilling onto the cabin floor. Everything else, however, stayed put.
As we approached Malibu about four hours into the trip, we were suddenly surrounded by leaping dolphins. Hundreds of them, going in all directions, including under My Freedom. Don said it was the most dolphins he's ever seen. It was an amazing and playful sight.
Moving toward Malibu proved to be more troublesome than we anticipated. Instead of winds dying down, they increased and frequently changed directions. It was tough to fight the tiller, which demanded constant attention. Don was on the tiller most of the trip since I lacked the experience to handle the conditions.
Her dodger served us well. The waves and swell frequently crashed over the bow and would have drenched us without a dodger. (The dodger, bimini, trim, and everything else on her is in excellent condition.) The bow, which on an Ericson is quite high, often hit the water, and we heeled often. The trip was becoming more exhilarating than the best rides at Magic Mountain. Through it all, she handled very well.
Then it got worse.
As we ventured further into Santa Monica Bay, the gusts increased and buffeted us severely.
The standing rigging was taking a severe beating because it was not taut. The turnbuckles needed work, and I had not been successful tightening them prior to our launch.
The weather was clear—thankfully there was no rain—but ocean spray wetted the deck. As Don battled the tiller, we decided to reef the main, so I scrambled out onto the wet, bouncing deck to lower the sail by about 4 feet. As I was prepping to lower the sail, Don called out to drop it entirely because winds were gusting up to 50 MPH and would blow the sail. I scrambled to bring it down completely and tie it off, clinging to the boom while the boat twisted and bounced and the ocean sprayed me.
With the sail down, we began motoring. The Atomic 4 is in excellent condition and pushed us along quite well, quite steadily. As winds died and the sun set, the swells tossed us dramatically. Don, who single-handed a 27 foot sailboat to Hawaii, said this was one of the most challenging sailing experiences he's ever faced.
Night fell about 5 p.m. and it was very dark. However, we had anticipated cold, chilly weather but instead, the Santa Anas blew warm air at us. And, as we were across from the Malibu fire, even a few miles out from shore, we felt the heat and smoke from the blaze. By the time we were across from the blaze, the firefighters had successfully contained it. (We had been watching the aircraft make their drops and the helicopters sucking water out of the ocean and swimming pools, and watched as the smoke began to turn from heavy black smoke to thinner gray smoke.)
Suddenly, as we approached Santa Monica pier, weather calmed. Sea flat. Wind died. Dark night. All became smooth. We were within two miles of our destination, Marina del Rey harbor.
Then the engine suddenly died.
That left us adrift near shore in an urban area, with no wind (ironic, after battling some of the worst winds for the past eleven hours) but lots of swell, she was bobbing and twisting, and very, very dark.
We hailed the Coast Guard (I'm very thankful that I had purchased a top-of-the-line VHF radio!) A rescue boat came out. I had been ordered to drop anchor and wait, to prevent crashing into rocks. Having not examined the anchors (I had planned to…) and not organizing the cockpit storage locker, and under stress, this became quite a challenge. I first chose to drop the stern anchor, since it was easier to reach. However, the anchor rode was now buried and entangled in the mess of the cockpit storage locker. When I finally dug out the locker, I discovered the anchor only had a short chain on it, not attached to anything. This meant I had to scramble out to the bow and release that anchor, which, fortunately, I at least knew was attached to about 150 feet of chain and rope. However, someone years earlier had tied the anchor into its holder, using string that was now encrusted and impossible to untie and which I could not see. I was fighting in the dark with this piece of string while the boat bounced dramatically, trying to toss me into the water…and possibly heading into unseen rocks. When I finally ripped the string off, swearing heartily, I threw the anchor into the water, fully aware that I might never see it again, since I had not fully inspected the chain or rope.
Thankfully, everything held and the anchor took the chain and rope to the bottom. Just as the rescue boat arrived. So, the anchor hit bottom and I had to haul it back up. An anchor and 150 feet of chain and rope is very heavy when wet, especially in the dark, under stress, and after a very long day of battling the sea.
She is now in a slip, dirty and messy and sad. I will return to her today and clean her up and try to find out why the engine quit. It stopped suddenly after running smoothly for three hours, so I expect and hope it's a minor problem.
My Freedom handled the challenging seas very well, her performance was excellent.
End of a day of great adventure.
(addendum: I inspected the engine (amazingly clean and well-maintained) and discovered the fuel filter was clogged. Lots of old gas in the tank, apparently. Once I replaced the fuel filter, the Atomic 4 ran great again.)